Interview with the Paz

Paz, you are one of the small group of people that introduced drifting to the UK. How do you feel about that? and how do you feel about how the drifting scene has blown up in such a short amount of time?

Howdy guys!
I’m pretty damn proud to have helped in some way to bring drifting over here! I remember being very excited when I stumbled on those clips all that time ago and thought “yeah, I gotta try that”…
From then on, due to a lot of hard work from various parties over the years, drifting is in a good place right now, a place that I hope is only going to get better and more wide spread over the coming years!

You seem like a man who likes to stick to his roots. Your first drift car was an AE86, and you still use one in top level competition in the UK today. Why do you love the AE86 so much, and would you ever think about drifting something else?

Hmm.. AE86’s. Hard to say why I like them so much, especially as my current one has taken up so much of my spare time and money! I think it just comes down to the look, the style, the noise… And when the track suits, the driver is on form and wind blows in juuust the right direction, the results can be spectacular! Haha…
I often consider other cars for drifting, I really enjoy driving BMW’s and I do fancy seeing how I could drive a PS13 or something similar. But I almost feel I’ve put too much time into the Corolla to give it up, it’s like a hobby for me. We’ll see though as I’m also enjoying more track driving in my M3 at the moment.

We often see you out on track and kicking about with the Driftworks guys. We’ve noticed you all have Team Night Spirit decals on your cars. What or who is Team Night Spirit?

Team Night Spirit is our drift team. Myself and Mark Smith started the team through a common interest in 2001, and it soon branched out into the drift team you see today. The guys who run Driftworks are very early Night Spirit members hence the connection you’ll see out on track. For me and the guys, Team Night Spirit is about everything a team should be. Good friends, support, backup, sweet ass drifting and fun times!

I believe you are now using a Honda engine in your Corolla. Why did you decide to change to this engine? and how do you get on with the car with the new lump?

The change came from two needs… I needed more power, and more flexibility. The very focused nature of a Corolla with a 4AGE meant that when no mistakes were made, the car was great, but a couple of small errors could mean the end of a good run.
And to up the power of a 4AGE to the HP levels I wanted simply wasn’t feasible on a budget such as mine. I needed reliable power so the decision was made!

I’ve done a bit more testing recently and I’m a lot more happy with the car now! At first my old suspension setup wasn’t working too well, but a few small but important tweeks seem to have made quite a bit of difference. I’m looking forward to getting to grips with it properly now!

What is drifting all about to you? and what are your goals in the future?

I’d be lying if I said I don’t enjoy the feeling of doing well in competition, so some of my motivation lies there, but its still gotta be fun. And the best thing is drifting with all the Night Spirit guys! It takes it to a whole new level of fun!

For the future, I’d like to be able to simply carry on drifting, competitively or otherwise. I’ve spent a few months of solid work on the car so I guess its time to enjoy it! I’m also keen to do more track days in the car when I can.. Early indications suggest it’s pretty good!

Words: Dave Manfred
Pics courtesy of Doristars.com